Taking a break from my brainstorm for my paper...
Went to the shop this afternoon (Sporthouse/Fatty's in Canton). I brought Brian for support and was a little afraid to speak up at first, but found myself just charging in once the owner came out and started talking with us. I explained that a couple things bothered me after we left. The first being that the bindings weren't tested (he claims that he tested with a boot in shop and that he already told me how to test the forward pressure at home but that he also told me he could do it for me if I needed). I told him my concern about that is that it was not explained to me when I dropped the skis off that he needed my boots; he said I didn't need to leave them if I didn't want to. Misunderstanding communicated; no real resolution for that other than he said he would test them right then and there. Then I said the other thing was that he didn't fix the dimple. He didn't have a real good explanation for that; basically said that it happens sometimes and he didn't know why he didn't fix it, but that he would do it right then. So he took my skis in the back, checked the bindings. Then he said he fixed the dimple and had another guy in the shop do a base grind and wax on my skis. We watched most of the process. Not sure what he did to fix the dimple (or if he did anything other than the base grind) but there's no discernible bump now.
While the skis were worked on, he explained to me that they've had a lot of kids ask to have bindings flat mounted lately (which I assumed would be the case since they seem to cater to newschoolers, hence why I chose this shop... well that and the fact that Brian had a gift card there). He talked about the difficulties in grinding down the screws to the right length. I asked why they don't just use new screws and he said that there would be too much difficulty in keeping track of which screws were for which brands/types of bindings. I guess that could be a legitimate reason.
In any case, the skis appear to be fixed and now they're tuned to boot. No violence, Jeff.And I did very well not getting emotional or snotty, I think anyway. Brian said my tone was fine (sometimes I get a snotty tone that I don't necessarily mean to... but it happens all the same). Even though they did right in the end, the fact that the shop wasn't forthcoming with fixing it in the first place, and the lack of customer service overall, leads me to the conclusion to not go there again. I know of a few other places that I've had much better luck with the way I and my ski equipment have been treated. Gotta stick with what works, right?
Back to the paper... came up with an awesome idea for it I'm just trying to organize all my thoughts first. I hope I have enough time to do this right because this paper will be something very special for me. I can't wait to see how it develops!
Glad it all worked out for you. At least you don't have to put them on your banned list now.
Right now I'm just drinkin beer and watching the Giants roll over Dallas. The Giants look even scarier this year than they did last year.
